Chavez Calls Bush "The Devil" on UN General Assembly Floor

There has been much outrage expressed because Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez appeared before the UN GA yesterday and, standing at the podium where Bush had stood the day before, called Bush "the devil" and said he still smelled the sulphur.

For me, however, it was not Chavez's words that hurt because Chavez is entitled to his opinion, even if it broke rules of decorum. I happen to remember too that Mr. Bush tried at least once to force a coup in Venezuela to unseat Chavez.

No, what hurt yesterday was how many and how loudly attendees at the U.N. laughed when Chavez said this. Not the kind of laugh where they thought Chavez was a little bonkers, but the kind of laugh that tells you, "Oh, look! Someone finally said the truth, if colorfully!"

Mind you, this winter, ironically it will be Mr. Chavez who will do more for lower income Americans than Mr. Bush will: Chavez is already committed to delivering huge volumes of 40% below wholesale low cost home heating fuel to a record number of parts of the country, including New York City. Many of those who benefit will be families of service men and women now overstretched and underpaid in Bush's wars.

Think what you want of Chavez, but it's clear where Mr. Bush's agenda lies... and it is NOT with the American people, not with its Armed Forces, and not with the best interests of the world. That he has come to symbolize someone who can earn wide derision at the U.N. is not good for any of us.